Bitter Tears, CH 3 - Choices

Two days had pasted since she had run tearfully out of the school. Sunset Shimmer headed to the grounds of Canterlot High this cold morning for one reason and one reason only.

She was going back.

After doing some thinking, and getting a full night’s sleep in one of the city’s homeless shelters (which was considerably more comfortable than sitting hurdled up on a park bench with only a leather jacket to keep you warm when it’s freezing cold outside), Sunset had come to terms with two things.

One: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity were not her friends, and they never really were. She may not have had a lot of experience with friendship before the Fall Formal, but she had learned enough to know that real friends would have at least heard her out before coming to any conclusions. All she was to them, from the very beginning, was a charity case; they had only hung around her at Twilight Sparkle’s request, and nothing more. This whole Anon-a-Miss fiasco was the perfect excuse for them to finally wash their hands of her, and she was more than happy to oblige them.

Two: Any punishment that Princess Celestia came up with for her crimes back in Equestria was still far more merciful than the pain she was feeling now. Even if Twilight had forgiven her transgressions, stealing a highly magical artifact, from a Princess no less, was still a very serious crime. Not to mention using said artifact to try and take over Equestria (which in respect, was a pretty stupid plan, she had to admit. Using a bunch of teenagers against Celestia, her now free and only slightly-less powerful sister, a menagerie of armed guards, and the other five Element Bearers? Sunset liked to think the crown had scrambled her common sense when it transformed her.).

As ruler, Celestia could not overlook what she had done, Sunset knew. Even so, Sunset was determined to return to Equestria and face whatever punishment Celestia had for her. She certainly didn’t see any point staying here anymore.

As she passed Sugarcube Corner, she noticed a bright pink sign in the window. It had her picture in the center, with the words ‘Have You Seen Me?” written around it with marker and bright colorful glitter. There was a phone number down at the bottom.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. Pinkie’s handiwork, no doubt. The fact that she was looking for her at all could only mean one thing, but Sunset was past the point of caring. She was leaving. Period. She walked past the window without a second glance, not noticing that inside, a very excited Mrs. Cake was frantically pressing buttons on her phone.

Finally after what seemed like eternity, Sunset found herself standing in front of the base of the Canterlot High Statue – the portal to Equestria.

Sunset took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and took one step forward.

“Sunset!”

Sunset ignored the voice and kept walking, only stopping when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  She turned to see a wide-eyed and panting Vice Principal Luna.

“There you are, Sunset Shimmer. Your friends have been looking for you everywhere.”

“I noticed.” Sunset deadpanned. She didn’t add that they weren’t her friends anymore.

Luna tried not to flinch as she took in the girl’s appearance. Her hair was matted and tangled, her clothes were rumpled, as though she’d been sleeping in them, and her eyes were black-rimmed and red. Of course, considering what the girl had been through the past few days, Luna wasn’t all that surprised that she didn’t look her best.

Clearing her throat, Luna said, “We’ll discuss your sudden disappearance and your whereabouts for the last two days later, Miss Shimmer. Right now my sister wishes to see you in her office.”

Sunset sighed and closed her eyes in annoyance. She had a feeling she knew what this was about.

“Is it important?” Sunset asked.

“Yes. She insisted I bring you to her the minute you set foot on school grounds.”

No way. You don’t owe these people anything. Not anymore. Just walk through the portal. It’s right there!

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Sunset followed closely behind Luna and tried her best to ignore the students that had suddenly gone quiet the moment they saw her. Let them stare. In a few minutes, it wouldn’t matter anymore anyway.

Once they arrived at the door to Principal Celestia’s office, Luna gave three sharp knocks, and after a pause they heard, “Come in.”

Luna opened the door and gestured for Sunset to enter. She did so.

Celestia was sitting at her desk, her fingers steepeled and her face stern. When she saw Sunset her expression softened slightly.

“Ah, Sunset. We were just discussing you. You know, you gave us all quite a scare when you disappeared from school without informing anyone.”

I highly doubt that, Sunset thought, but chose to remain silent.

“But we’ll discuss that later. The reason I had you brought you here is because these three young ladies,” Celestia pointed to her left. “have something to say to you.”

Without turning her head, Sunset looked at the left side of the room, where Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were all sitting in chairs, staring at their feet and looking positively miserable.

“These three are the ones behind Anon-a-Miss, right?”

The girls’ heads snapped up upon hearing Sunset’s revelation, and their eyes widened as they saw how disheveled she was.

Celestia’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “You already knew?”

“I put two and two together. I had a lot of time to think, actually, since I no longer have any social plans.”

Though Sunset spoke in a soft monotone, the girls all flinched back as if Sunset had screamed at them.

In reality, Sunset didn’t figure it out until after her strange encounter with Sonata. Something the siren had said before leaving: “Sisters.” Of course, she wasn’t going to tell them that; that would’ve led to a load of questions that Sunset just didn’t feel like answering. She didn’t want to delay her departure any longer than she had to.

“Apple Bloom was the only other person to know Applejack's secret. In fact, she was the one who told us over the phone. Sweetie Belle was the only other person in the house during the slumber party at Rarity's; she probably took my phone and posted those photos when everyone was asleep.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle squirmed in their seats at the expressionless mask on Sunset’s face.

“And then there’s Scootaloo; the junior soccer team practice takes place at the same time as Rainbow Dash’s, right after her science class. She could’ve taken a picture of her failed report when Dash wasn’t looking.”

Sunset’s eyes came back to Celestia. “What I can’t figure out is how they found out about the other students’ secrets.”

Celestia said sternly, “Apparently other students had submitted the secrets for Anon-a-Miss to post. These three were kind enough to save the email addresses and hand them to us. Those students will be dealt with as soon as we find them.”

Sunset’s fingernails dug hard into her palms. Those damn hypocrites! “I see. So what happens to them?” She gestured with her head at the girls, never taking her eyes off Celestia.

Celestia stood up and walked to the front of her desk. “Rest assured they will be punished. For starters, they will have six months of detention, starting after the break. Yesterday, we held an assembly before the entire school where they confessed to being Anon-a-Miss, closed to profile permanently, and apologized for all the trouble they’ve caused. They are also banned from using the school computers unless given permission from a teacher and even then their activities will be closely monitored. They are to turn in their cellphones to the office each morning and will only receive it back after the final bell. And lastly, they are banned from all after school and extracurricular activities for the rest of the school year.”

"Failure to comply will result in immediate expulsion." Luna added, glaring sternly at the girls. Celestia nodded in agreement.

The girls did not dare complain. They were getting off light, and they knew it.

Sunset was silent too, until finally she let out a deep sigh and said, “Well, thank you, Principal Celestia. Now if there’s nothing else, I’d better be going.” Hands trembling, she turned towards the door.

 “Wait, Sunset.” Apple Bloom stood up, fidgeting her fingers. “We wanted to- ”

“Save it.” Sunset said coldly as she turned to face them. Though her face was still expressionless, Apple Bloom could see the hurt and anger in her eyes. “I don’t know why you did this, and frankly, I don’t really care. All I know is, I certainly hope it was worth it.”

And with that, she wrenched the door open and marched out. Luna made a move to go after her, but Celestia raised her hand said, “Let her go. We’ll talk to her after she’s calmed down.”

Celestia had seen that Sunset had been struggling to control her anger towards Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and was thankful, and proud, that she had decided to be the bigger person and walk away before things had a chance to escalate. And as angry as she was, she didn’t think Sunset would listen to what she had to say anyway. What Sunset needed was a chance to decompress and calm down before she could be spoken to rationally.  Celestia only hoped that Sunset wouldn’t try and do something drastic.

Apple Bloom slumped back down into her seat and covered her face with her hands.

I certainly hope it was worth it....worth it.....worth it.....

No. It was not worth it. Not worth it at all.

Sunset walked briskly through the halls, not daring to turn back, lest she go back and strangle those three. The bell for class had rung two minutes ago so the halls were void of students. All she had to do was get to the portal and-

“Sunset!”

Shit. Ignore them. Just keep going. Sunset quickened her pace.

“Sunset, wait!”

“Pretty please?”

“Please, Sunset, wait!”

You’re almost there. Just a little further.

Once again she felt a hand on her shoulder, and once again Sunset stopped. She didn’t turn around this time, though.

“Oh thank goodness. We were so worried about you, Sunset.”

Liar.

“Yeah! We were looking all over for you! Where were you?”

“What do you care? I’m a ‘secret-stealer’, remember?” Sunset said bitterly.

She tried to ignore the pang in her heart as she heard Pinkie let out a whimper. Damn it, why didn’t I go through the portal last night when I had the chance?

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about, darling.” she heard Rarity say awkwardly.

No. No more talking. I’m done. Done with this school, done with this screwed up dimension, done with you.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Sunset said evenly, and began to walk away. She felt her arm being grabbed.

“Well we have something to say to you.” Rainbow Dash said impatiently.

“You’ve all said more than enough!” Sunset yelled, wrenching her arm free. Ignoring the stinging in her eyes she took off down the hall once more.

“WE KNOW IT WASN’T YOU!”

Sunset kept walking. Don’t cry. Just leave.

“WE’RE SORRY!”

Too little, too late.

“WE LOVE YOU, SUNSET!”

Sunset stopped dead in her tracks.

Don’t turn around. That’s what they want. Just walk away.

Slowly, hesitantly, she turned to look behind her.

All five girls had looks of guilt and sorrow on their faces.  Fluttershy and Pinkie were panting heavily, their faces streaked with tears.

Turning to face them fully, Sunset asked, “They told you, then?”

If any of the girls were shocked that Sunset already knew the true identity of Anon-a-Miss, they didn’t show it. They did flinch when they saw her appearance, though.

“Yeah, they told us.” Applejack pulled her hat down over her eyes. “They showed us yer phone, too.”

So I broke my damn phone. Big whoop. It’s not like I need it where I’m going

 “We’re so sorry, Sunset.” Fluttershy said tearfully. “We should have at least given you a chance to explain.”

Yeah. You should have. Are we done here?

Rarity shyly stepped forward and produced a large rectangular box wrapped in orange paper and tied with a crimson bow from behind her back. “We wanted you have this. Consider this an early Christmas present.”

Seriously? You’re seriously trying to bribe me with a present. What kind of person do you think I am? Don’t answer that. I already know.

“What is it?” Sunset asked as she walked towards them and took the gift.

“Open it up and find out, silly.” Pinkie said, smiling nervously.

Uh uh. No way. Take your stupid present and shove it up your-

Sunset tore the paper open and opened the lid of the box. Inside was a whole new outfit – new leather jacket, new boots, leggings, and a beautiful blue dress.

“I made it myself,” Rarity explained. “I thought a new outfit would, well, complete your metamorphosis, so to speak. A change on the outside to match the changed ‘you’ inside.”

Teardrops began to fall on the contents of the box.

Why are you still here? Just toss the damn thing! They don’t care about you! This is just a guilt offering to make themselves feel better!

“What we did was stupid and uncool,” Rainbow said somberly. “and we completely understand if you don’t trust us anymore. But we’ll do everything we can to make it up to you.” Rainbow placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Please, give us a chance to show you that we do care about you.”

Oh no. You’re not doing this to me again. Fool me once….. Damn it!

I wish I’d never met any of you! I wish everything was back to the way it was before I met you!

Back when I was my own pony! Back when I was with Celestia! Back when I was….alone….

…….

…..Shit.

Shit, Shit, SHIT! Why?! Why now?! Why couldn’t you just let me LEAVE?!

Clutching her gift to her chest, Sunset broke down sobbing. Her friends immediately rushed to her side, wrapping her in a warm embrace.

It was but the first step in a long road to forgiveness and recovery, but for now, it was enough